Reading Ezekiel

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Ezekiel and Isaiah and Jeremiah are all part of a package deal in prophecy. Together they form the major part of prophecy in the Old Testament. Ezekiel is the lesser known book, because it is a harsher form of prophecy, and slightly less organized. Still, it is a highly intellectual, bold, vision like prophetic book.

Just like Isaiah and Jeremiah, Ezekiel first receives a call. In my opinion, if you are listening, everyone receives a call in their life. This call can be for a multitude of things (career, relationships, missions, church involvement), and can come in a multitude of different ways, but my belief is that God has a specific call for every one of His children. Ezekiel's call was to be a prophet.

His focus was on the future of Israel. Again, he seems to bounce back and forth with his prophecies from present day to near future to far future. Still, he remains focused on the future of Israel, and specifically the holy city Jerusalem. He first predicts the destruction of the city, and cites the sins of the people as the major reason. He then moves on to prophecies regarding foreign nations and cities. Again, even though he's not talking directly about Israel here, the two are inexplicably linked. Israel isn't secluded at all. In fact, after a study in the book of Revelation, the relationship between the Israelites and Gentiles could not be more intertwined. Finally, Ezekiel ends the book on a high note, regarding the restoration of the nation. Again, the differing timeframes can be seen here. On one hand, he was talking about the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ. But, a lot of what he said could be taken for the end times.

The interesting thing with prophecy is that every vision, every idea, every prediction comes from the Lord. How the author describes that vision, idea, or prediction is up to the author, but still his words are divinely inspired. The dual process is one of the most amazing things about the Bible.